The First Part
by Janos
Summary: Aptly named the first part in a two-part series. As far as I've heard, it's worth reading. Gerentex returns in this, and a strange twist at the end...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1  
  
The Goldensun cargoeship flew faster. It's thrusters were going beyond the recommended limit, and on board, the crew was trying hard to shake off the Slipfighter that was pursuing them. "I can't go any faster! We're lucky not to be already blown up as it is!!"screamed the pilot. The engineers were frantically trying to get the slipstream back online, but the slipfighter still gained. "Captain, I'm telling you! That ship is faster, more maneuverable, and has more firepower than us! There is no way we can outrun it! Our only chance is to fight." The Captain hesitated, then said, "Alright, we're going to have to use our missiles. Hard 180!" "Ay ay captain," said the pilot. The injured Goldensun turned to face its enemy. "Fire!" a missile streamed out of the hold but the target swerved just in time. "Get the second one ready! Fi..." But the captain didn't have time to finish his order. A shot from the slipfighter collided with the hull. ----------------- Hannah crouched between crates in the cargo hold of the Goldensun and tried to be brave. It wasn't working. She wasn't really supposed to be here, but her father had told her to find a place to hide. She bit her lip as another shot hit the ship, and peeked out to see her Dad running through the hallway off the hold she was in, probably looking for her. Good. The ship was still intact and he was alive. So was she. Diving out from her hiding place, she ran to catch up with her Father. She made it to the hallway just as another shot rocked that ship and her dad rounded the corner. Suddenly there was a massive explosion coming from the hold she had just been in. She was thrown to the floor. Her body burnt and she could smell the smell of roasting flesh. Her only thoughts were to crawl forward away from the flames. She desperately tried to get up so she could help. She had been brought up to know what to do in a situation like this. She had only been hiding because she had been ordered by her father to find a safe place. Hannah could remember the argument clearly. -------------------- 'Why can't I help like a normal crewmember?' Hannah demanded. Her father answered patiently 'Because right now you are too young. We've had this discussion before, young lady, and I'm losing my patience,' here Hannah scowled and yet again reminded him that she knew more about running a ship than most of the real crewmembers did. 'I am well aware of that, but we have a real emergency and I want to know you are somewhere safe.' 'But-' 'No but's. Now go find somewhere to hide out before the worst is over. I'll come and find you then.' Hannah scowled but resigned to her fate. ------------- Back in real time someone was lifting her off the ground. She could hear yelling and then remembered that her father had been close to the explosion as well. "Is dad OK?" she managed to ask. The someone didn't appear to hear her. She was taken to Med bay and could see her best friend on board, Dr. Sole. Her face was creased with worry. "Oh God. Hannah." she couldn't bare to see the innocent girl like this. It wasn't her fault the slipfighter was after them, and she probably didn't even know why it was. To her the ship was home, and just a normal cargo ship. Taking food and supplies back and forth between colonies all over the galaxy. An exciting life for a 15 year old, perhaps too exciting. But once in awhile an employer of illicit nature would come along and offer them a job they couldn't refuse. They could never refuse. It was so hard just to make ends meet on the ship that they were forced to take a job that wasn't completely legal. This happened to be one of those jobs. Hannah was carefully never told what was in the hold on such occasions. It was always 'for her own good'. Look at the good it did her now. Quickly Dr. Sole set to work. She was determined to save the girl's life. She managed to hook her up to an apparatus to help her breathe and put some dressing on the burns and when suddenly the Goldensun was shot and the lights went out. -------------------------------------- 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 The Andromeda Ascendant pulled out of the docking bay of Hakfuren drift after buying supplies. The crew, except Harper who was out putting the new supplies away, were all on command deck watching the drift pull away. "Brace for Slipstream" stated Beka as she piloted, and the ship was pulled into the void. Captain Dylan Hunt stood on the command deck planning their next destination. "Why don't we go somewhere fun?" suggested Beka as the ship pulled out of the Slipstream. "Yeah, I mean not that flying around saving other people's butt's for them isn't fun," Harper said as he walked in, "but we could always go, lets say, surfing?" Dylan chuckled to himself. "I was thinking of doing some exploring, maybe finding someone else who wants to join the Commonwealth?" The crew groaned jokingly "Oh, not that again. You already have 50, isn't that enough? Come on, we deserve at least a little time off for ourselves." Beka said, but just then the Andromeda's image came up on the main viewscreen "There appears to be a slipfighter up ahead shooting at a damaged cargo ship Captain." she stated "Or not" sighed Beka "Put it up on the viewscreen" ordered Dylan The slip was just circling around at the cargoship for another attack "Captain, the cargoeship has no means of protecting itself and its life support systems are barely functioning. There are faint signs of life onboard. Do you have any orders?" "Yes. Try and contact the slipfighter. See if we can find out what's going on" The image of Andromeda disappeared for a moment and then reappeared "They refuse to contact us but there is an incoming message from the cargoeship" "Bring it up." Ordered Dylan. A picture of a damaged interior came up. Sparks were flying everywhere and there was a faint orange glow in the background as though there was a fire somewhere. A woman with brown hair and a face streaked with blood was standing there. She started to speak in a choking voice "Our life support is malfunctioning. We can't last much longer. Please help. I repeat. please help us. We have done no harm to deserve this. We..." Static replaced the image as an explosion engulfed the camera on the other ship. "Andromeda, Try contacting the slipfighter again." Said Dylan. His face was grim. "They have gone into slipstream captain" the Andromeda informed them "They ran when they saw us coming." "Dammit. Tyr, Rommie, Beka, I want you to come with me onto the ship. See if we can find any survivors and find out what's going on. " The three ran to get into spacesuits. ---------------------- The Maru attached itself to the Cargoship with a clang. Slowly the doors opened to reveal the same sparking and orange interior they had seen on the viewscreen. Dylan indicated he wanted them to split up. "Meet here in half an hour and contact me if you find something" Beka, Rommie and Tyr nodded and went their separate ways. Beka headed toward the cargo bays. She picked her way past pieces of burning debris and came to the bay door. It was partly closed. She tried to force it open but it was jammed. "Tyr, Dylan, Rommie, I might need someone here to help me get this door opened." She said through her commlink. Tyr answered "I think I found someone alive here," "Where are you?" asked Dylan "the Med bay," he answered. Rommie and Beka abandoned their searches to join Tyr and Dylan who had already reached the bay. Tyr held in his arms a girl with long dark brown hair and hazel eyes. Her mouth had an oxygen mask over it. She was wearing only tatters of burnt clothing that looked have once been blue, but was now a charred black. The skin they could see through the rips in the clothing was red in places and yellow oozing and blistered in others. There were many other bodies in the room, but hers was the only one breathing. "Quick, get her onto the Maru. Rommie, are there any other life signs on board?" Asked Dylan "No, only us and her." "Then we should get back. She needs medical attention quickly. Maybe she can tell us about the attack." said Dylan, and they all trooped out with Tyr in front carrying the body that seemed tiny in comparison to his size. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
"Will she be OK?" "If I can get her lungs cleared of the smoke I think I can save her. I think the only reason she's alive was because she was hooked up to that oxygen mask. She was very lucky." "Get her to med bay. Quickly!" Hannah could hear voices and she knew just by the feel of it that she was no longer on her own ship. An unfamiliar body was holding her.  
  
Suddenly she realized what pain she was in. She couldn't move. It was almost impossible to breathe. She tried to make it go away, without success. An almost unhearable cry came from her lips.  
  
"She's awake." Said the body holding her. She could feel the vibrations from his deep voice rumble, and that made her hurt even more.  
  
She was now being carried through passages that seemed to twist and turn endlessly, but finally they reached where they were going and she was set carefully down onto a table and a mask was placed over her face.  
  
"I'm going to give her some aesthetic so she won't feel the pain." said someone with a female voice. "OK. Tell me as soon as she wakes up." Hannah tried to say or do something, but she blacked out almost immediately.  
  
------,  
  
Hannah woke up feeling much better. She took a deep breathe of air that seemed to be for the first time unlaboured. Opening her eyes she took in her surroundings. She was in a normal looking medbay and a blanket had been placed over her. She realized she was no longer in pain. Looking over to her left, she saw a woman with her back to her. She was confused. The woman appeared to be gold.  
  
The woman turned around and Hannah realized that she really did have gold coloured skin.  
  
"Oh, you're awake." was all she said. "Dylan, the patient is awake and appears to be doing well," the woman said into something. "I'm on my way," a voice said coming from the something.  
  
In a few minutes a tall man walked into the room. Hannah sat up. She wanted to be able to better protect herself if need be. She tried to reassure herself that if they had wanted her dead they wouldn't have tried to save her life, but she was still wary.  
  
"I am captain Dylan Hunt of the starship Andromeda. It is my honour to welcome you aboard."  
  
Hannah couldn't believe her ears. The Andromeda was the most famous ship in the galaxy, and Dylan Hunt was a name she had grown up hearing. "How are you feeling?" he said. The gold lady came over and removed the mask, smiling at her. "Fine," she managed to croak. Dylan Hunt smiled "That's good to hear," he said.  
  
Since you're feeling better, would you like to come with me to the mess hall and get something to eat? If you don't mind I'd also like to ask you a few questions about what happened back there." She nodded and was helped off the table by the gold lady. "Thank you, Trance," said Captain Hunt. 'So that's her name' she thought, 'Trance.' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
"Have you had enough to eat?" asked captain Hunt as he and Hannah sat in the mess hall if the Andromeda. "Yes, I'm fine thanks," she replied. She didn't have much of an appetite, even though it had been... how many days? She asked the captain, "So, how many days have I been here, Captain Hunt?" "It's been about a week since we found you, we had to keep you asleep to help with the pain," he replied. "And... how many other survivors were there?" she choked out, dreading the answer. She realized that she hadn't seen anyone on the ship besides herself, the captain, and Trance. Dylan looked grim, and dreaded answering as much as Hannah dreaded being answered. He knew she would've asked soon. "There were no survivors beside yourself. I'm sorry." he said as she struggled to regain composure as it sunk in. " but you are very welcome to stay on the ship as long as you like," he said, "Would you like me to show you to your quarters?" Hannah nodded and fought the tears that were inevitably coming forth. Her father wouldn't have wanted to see her cry like this. It had been something she was prepared for all her life, after all, it was inevitable for there to be casualties on a cargoship from time to time. But this was not something as small as the death of one person. It was the death of her father, her friends, and everything she had ever known. They reached her quarters and Dylan showed her to the bed. She couldn't see where she was going through the tears. Dylan wanted to comfort her, but he knew he couldn't feel sorry for her until he found out who's side she was on. He hadn't asked her any questions, he realized. It could wait. for now he just said, "I'll leave you alone for awhile. If you need anything feel free to ask any of the crew." Hannah just buried her face into the pillow and cried. He stepped out into the corridor alone. "Andromeda," he said "make sure she doesn't get into anything if she leaves her quarters, and keep an eye on her."With that he walked to his quarters to take a much-needed rest.  
  
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	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
It had been several days since Hannah had learned of the death of her friends. Her burns had healed with the help of nanobots, and with minimum scarring. Meals that she hadn't touched sat on the table in her quarters. She couldn't stop reliving that day in her mind. The argument with her father, the explosion, being rescued. Again and again. Why wouldn't it stop?  
  
Someone knocked at her door. It was Seamus Harper, the engineer. She had met him yesterday, or was it the day before? He had brought her one of her meals.  
  
"Hello?" he said as he peeked in, "I've got some food here for you, but I guess you're not that hungry..." he said glancing at the tableful of plates. "Ummm, well I guess I'll leave this with you," He struggled to find a place on the table that would fit another plate. He settled on putting it on top of an older meal. Hannah just sat and stared straight ahead. "Say, um, did you know your name is spelled the same backwards and forwards?" his attempt at smalltalk failed miserably, and the girl didn't appear to hear him. "OK then, nice chatting with you. See you later," and with that he left.  
  
Out in the hall Harper made his way to the command deck.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harper walked in as Captain Hunt just finished reviewing some messages from the commonwealth. Tyr was reading a book, and Rommie stood at a console.  
  
"How is she?" asked Dylan  
  
"How should I know? She still doesn't talk, or listen. It's like walking into a room and trying to make conversation with a rock,"  
  
Dylan sighed and said, "I guess I'll go see if she's ready to answer questions now,"  
  
He had been trying to get something out of her for the last three days, but she would barely look at him. It was driving his patience.  
  
"Captain Hunt," came the voice of Tyr, "I would like to try my hand at conversation with this girl,"  
  
Dylan turned to look at him, "By all means you can try if you want, but I don't know if you'll get anything out of her. And don't hurt her," he added. Just a precaution.  
  
Tyr just nodded and left Command with the whoosh of the doors closing after him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sighing, Hannah supposed she had better eat something. After all, she didn't want to die of starvation before she even found out who had blown up the Goldensun.  
  
Maybe not just yet. She felt as though her grief was too strong for her to move, or speak, let alone eat. Besides, she didn't feel hungry, and she felt she could wait a little longer. She clenched her teeth, vowing to find whoever had done this to her.  
  
The doors slid open. Hannah briefly felt indignant at the fact that they hadn't even bothered to knock. This startled her out of her trance and her head shot over to look at the intruder. It was a man she had never seen before. He was tall, maybe taller than Dylan, and very muscly. He had a frown on his face that looked ominous. Her breath quickened, then slowed as she realized he wasn't going to hurt her. He just sat down at the table, pushing the plates out of his way. Most of them fell onto the floor.  
  
She waited for him to say something. It never came. He just stared straight at her, penetratingly. A few minutes passed, and still nothing. Hannah felt that this man had no right to barge in here and act this way. For the moment her sorrow was gone and anger replaced it.  
  
"Well??" she demanded. Her voice felt raspy after all that time without using it. Still he stared. "If you've come in here to say something, then say it,"  
  
The man stood up, smiled to himself, and left. Just like that. It was disturbing. Hannah sat for a moment, puzzling. 'What a selfish man!!' she thought. At that moment her stomach growled and she realized that she was ravenously hungry. Getting up from the bed, and wobbling a little, she made her way over to the table and sat down. The seat was still warm from the man. She barely gave it a thought as she chose the freshest meal she could find and tucked in.  
  
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	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Her hunger finally satisfied, Hannah decided to have a shower. When that was finished she found some clean clothes, and exited the room.. There was a hallway running left and right. Not sure of where to go, she decided to head left, and see what she could find.  
  
The corridor went on for some time, passing doors every now and then. There were also ladders at intervals along it. 'Wow, this is a big ship!' She thought. She came upon a crossroads, this time turning right.  
  
Suddenly there came a noise. It sounded like someone tapping, very softly. She felt like it was beckoning to her. The sound floated up from the nearest ladder, and she went over to it and climbed down. She found herself in a conduit, and it was almost tall enough for her to stand up with her head brushing the ceiling. She kept going and rounded a corner. The sound was louder. She knew she was close. It came from just around the next bend. She quickened her pace and....  
  
There sat Harper, absently tapping a screwdriver while he wrestled with a problem. She felt so stupid. Why would anything be calling to her in the first place? Her face grew hot as Harper noticed her. "Hey, what are you doing down here?" he asked, then spoke into a radio device "Uh, Dylan, I found Hannah," "Um, well, I was just..." she stammered. He stopped her from saying more. "Just tell Dylan. He's the one who really wants to know. Here, just climb up this ladder, and he should be here soon." he said indicating, then he went back to his problem.. 'Boy am I in for it,' she thought, trying to think of a non-insane excuse for why she was down in the conduits. She came up into a hallway just as Dylan rounded the corner, running. He stopped when he saw her. "I think it's about time you answered a few questions." he said, and led her off.  
  
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	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
  
She felt like she was about to be interrogated, then realized that she was.  
  
Suddenly she wanted to tell him everything. She needed desperately to tell someone all about herself. Right now she was just a speck in the Universe and no one but the crew of this ship knew she even existed.  
  
"Now. Down to business." said Dylan, "First, I want you to tell me everything that happened before the blast. Even from before the slipfighter started pursuing you." he said. She was surprised that he hadn't even asked her what she had been doing in the conduit. She decided she'd just keep him occupied and tell him what he wanted, as she hadn't thought of an excuse yet. "Well, we had just picked up some new cargo at Serukan Drift, and we had just come out of slipstream when we were attacked. The jolt of the shot broke the slipstream drive and we were stranded..." "Wait," Dylan cut in, "Tell me what happened before that. How did you come to be on that ship? I've never heard of cargoships that employ 15 year olds." "Oh, I was born on the ship. My dad was a crewmember, and my mom was someone he had met at a stop at a drift. I've never met her, but it doesn't really bother me." Inside, Hannah was really thinking 'it does bother me!!' but she had no intention of telling that to Captain Hunt. She meant only to give him the minimum of facts. Actually, she realized, she need not have told him that she had never met her mother, but he was bound to ask in the end. Hannah continued, "I don't really get to deal with customers much yet. I mean, I didn't," she said, realising that she may never get to do that now.  
  
"I see," said Dylan. An idea dawned on him "do you know what was in the hold that may have attracted the slipfighters attention?"  
  
"No, I'm barely ever told what's in the hold. As far as I know we just transported food and supplies mostly," Dylan gave her a look that made her uneasy. He seemed to be searching her. She thought that perhaps she had given away more than she had intended, but her mind was set at ease when he said "I think that's all I need for now. You look tired. Go check in with Trance at med bay but don't go too far, I might need to ask you some more questions soon." he got up and ushered her out of the room, himself turning towards what she thought must be the way to the command deck.  
  
She turned away and started on her way toward to the med bay, but soon came face to face with the man who had barged into her room. She gasped and stepped back.  
  
"Why is it that every time you see me your heart rate quickens." he said. His voice was deep, but he said it with a kind of subtle humour about it, as though he was sharing a joke with himself. She briefly wondered how he could tell how fast her heart was beating. "Where are you off to?" he continued.  
  
"Med bay," she said quickly. This man made her nervous. There was something not quite right about him.  
  
He stared at her like he had stared when he came into her room. Perhaps even more unblinkingly penetrating if possible.  
  
"The med deck is that way," he said, breaking the silence. He indicated towards the way I had just come from.  
  
"Oh," I said dumbly. Suddenly I felt tired, and I stopped caring about what he thought I was doing. All I wanted was to get to bed. I staggered around and slogged my way over, barely noticing that he was holding me up. He supported me and redirected me when I missed the door to Med bay. I lay down on the table and briefly saw Trance before she moved out of my line of vision. Before I fell into the deep sleep that I had been lacking for days, I reminded myself to thank the man when I woke up. I sighed and gave into the blissful calm.  
  
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	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8  
  
"Rommie, Beka, I need you to come here please," said Dylan into his commlink. He stood by the cargo hold of the Andromeda where they had been keeping the ship the Goldensun. So far they hadn't explored far into the ship, just enough to remove most of the bodies, but this time Dylan knew where he needed to go, and he also knew that he might need help.  
  
"What's up Dylan?" asked Beka from the Command deck. Rommie was equally intrigued.  
  
"I'm by the cargo holds. Just get down here. I think I'm going to need some help,"  
  
Beka looked at Rommie and shrugged, and they both set out together to the hold.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "OK, so we're here. What now?" said Beka when they reached Dylan. They all stood inside the Goldensun's charred remains. "This way," said Dylan as he set out, "I think it's time we found out what was in the hold of this ship." Silently Rommie and Beka followed.  
  
They reached the first door, and found it was welded shut from the flames. It took about five minutes using a laser saw to cut through the metal, but their work was fruitless. The hold was huge but there was nothing in it. They moved on to the next door. This one was openable with out the aide of the saw but there was only crates of packed up food, all rotten. They moved on much more quickly than they had for the first hold.  
  
They then reached the third and last door. This was partly open, but it was stuck. Rommie put her head into the hold through the opening in the door and looked around. "Well, there are crates in here, but I can't see what's in them," she said, "We'll have to get the door open somehow," she pulled her head back out through the hole and tried to push the doors open. "Won't budge," she said. They resorted to using the laser saw to cut the door completely out of it's frame, but this took over twenty minutes. When they got one half of the door out, they decided to call it a day.  
  
"After all, the ship will still be here tomorrow," said Dylan  
  
"What do you think we'll find in it? Probably more rotten food?" said Beka as she and Dylan walked towards the mess hall.  
  
"I wouldn't be surprised, but I have a hunch that there's much more than food in that hold. I don't want to say anything yet, because I may be wrong, so don't ask me." he said. Beka kept silent. She knew it would do no good to prod and she would just have to wait and see.  
  
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	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9  
  
Harper crawled through the ducts of the Andromeda. He was trying to get to an area where the Andromeda claimed she had a leak and that could only be fixed manually. Finding the leak, he proceeded in fixing it. Done, he started to crawl away again, when an awful smell reached him.  
  
"Aw, what is that smell???" he said to himself, getting out of the duct as quickly as possible.  
  
As soon as he was out, he started toward Dylan's quarters. It was early in the morning, and he assumed that he was still in his room.  
  
When he reached it he knocked on the door. "Dylan!" he called loudly "DYLAN! I have a report to make!" He could hear muffled sounds of someone waking up. He chuckled to himself. It was beyond him how someone could bare to sleep in when there was so much time in a day. He found it quite fun to do this when he had a sort-of excuse.  
  
"Ugh. What is it Harper? I hope you have a good excuse for waking me up at 4 AM!" Dylan called through the door. It was beyond him how someone could bare to wake up so damn early when there was so much time in a day.  
  
"I have an excuse. You know I would never wake you up for no reason..." said Harper.  
  
"Out with it. I have to go back to sleep,"  
  
"Oh, there's just a smell in the ducts is all," he said laughing at the success of his trick.  
  
This caught Dylan's attention. "Harper, stay where you are for a minute. Where were you when you smelled it?" he asked  
  
"Um, over by the cargo hold. Why?" he said  
  
There was silence from the room.  
  
"Dylan, are you still alive in there??"  
  
"Yes Harper. Thank you for your report,"  
  
Harper shrugged and walked off, wondering what had gotten into Dylan. Perhaps his trick wasn't so successful after all.  
  
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	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10  
  
That day Dylan, Beka, and Rommie continued their work at the hold of the Goldensun.  
  
After twenty minutes, they were finally through. Shoving what was left of the door out of the way, Dylan made his way into the hold. It was bigger than the other two and held more crates, and also smelled ten times as bad. Beka gagged and tried to keep her lunch where it should be. Dylan did the same.  
  
"Well, at least we know where that smell comes from," said Dylan.  
  
"I'll go look in the crates," said Rommie, seeing the trouble the two were having. She made her way alone across the aisle down the middle of the room, with huge crates on either side. Choosing one at random she jumped up on top of it and pried open the lid. Even her censors were not prepared for the sight she saw when she looked in, and she almost lost her balance.  
  
"Dylan, I think you should get over here NOW," she said. Dylan, keeping himself under control as much as possible went over to the crate. Rommie hauled him up onto the top with her and he looked in.  
  
Dead, rotting bodies.  
  
He gasped and gagged again from the smell.  
  
"Seal off this hold. Don't let anyone in. We'll have to get Harper to find a way to preserve these," he said, waving his hand in the direction of the bodies. "Let's get out of here,"  
  
They both jumped down from the crate and got out of the room quickly. Beka looked puzzled at their shocked faces but kept silent until they got away from the smell.  
  
Then she said "Did you find what you thought you would?"  
  
"No. Something much worse," replied Dylan. He didn't appear as though he was going to continue.  
  
"Well??"  
  
"Dead people," Beka jumped. That had not been what she was expecting at all.  
  
"I thought it was just illegal drugs or something, but never did I think of this," he said.  
  
"I guess that doesn't shed any light on why that slipfighter attacked them," said Beka  
  
Dylan shook his head, "I want to keep this a secret from Hannah, alright? And it might be better if we don't tell anyone else in case they let it slip and she overhears someone talking," Beka and Rommie nodded and headed off to mess hall for lunch.  
  
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	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11  
  
Trance put some medicine she had been mixing back onto the shelf of the med lab. 'There, that's done,' she thought. She turned around and saw Hannah stirring on the bed.  
  
"I see you're awake. How are you feeling?" she asked.  
  
Hannah looked at her with squinting eyes. "Less tired," she answered simply.  
  
"That's good. Your health is relatively normal, so I guess you're free to go," said Trance.  
  
"Thanks," said Hannah, sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of the table and jumping down.  
  
She walked out of the Med lab and came upon yet another crossroads identical to all others she had so far encountered. She shrugged and decided she'd try going toward the right this time. Last time going left did not turn out so well.  
  
She found herself eventually at a dead end with doors in front of her. The doors were big and official looking, and Hannah thought that maybe they were the doors to the command deck. She entered and found that she was right. There were many stations with consoles and a huge screen at the front. She had never seen such an elegant and clean command in her life before. She walked in awe towards the front of the empty room and jumped when suddenly an image appeared on the screen. She saw in disgust that it was a Nightsider. She thought she recognised him as one of her old ship's customers. He seemed surprised to see her, but recovered quickly and said  
  
"Ah, just the girl I wanted to see. You must be Hannah," he said with a forced smile on his face.  
  
Hannah didn't say anything  
  
"You know, the last time I saw you, you were about yea high," he said indicating, "you haven't grown much I'm afraid my dear,"  
  
"Don't call me that!" said Hannah. If there was one thing she couldn't stand it was being called 'dear' by a stranger. Especially a Nightsider!  
  
"Now, now, dear, no need to get all upset over nothing. I'm just calling in to ask you something," he said sickeningly sweetly. Hannah knew he was just buttering her up, but decided to hear what he had to say.  
  
"If you're going to ask me then ask," she said firmly. She knew how to handle this kind of person, thing, she corrected herself, because of years of seeing her father and the crew bartering and dealing with many characters similar in nature to this one.  
  
"I knew I could count on you..." he started, but Hannah cut him off, "I didn't say I would do whatever you are asking for, I just said I'd listen," she gave him a cold glare that seemed to put him off for a moment.  
  
"Very well then," he continued, "I have just one thing to say. I know who killed your father,"  
  
Hannah gasped and swallowed. "Who??" she asked.  
  
"All in good time, I just have one tiny favor to ask of you, dear,"  
  
She began to hate this beast royally. There was always a catch with his kind of people.  
  
"What is it?" she relented. This was a creature who may know what happened to her friends, and she was not willing to give up this chance, even if he was lying.  
  
"First things first. You know how to override the system, do you?" he asked  
  
She didn't like the way this conversation was going, but she nodded. It was one of the first things she had learned.  
  
"Good," he looked pleased, "then override the systems of the Andromeda and allow me to come onto the ship with out being noticed. That's all I need you to do, and as a reward I'll give you a hefty cash profit as well as the info you so dearly need," he smiled at her leeringly.  
  
This was a tough decision. How could she go back on the people who had saved her life?  
  
"Just as long as you promise not to hurt any of them," she said finally.  
  
"Oh, heavens forbid! Of course not my dear, the thought never even crossed my mind! So it's a deal?" he said, turning on 'charm' to full power.  
  
Reluctantly, Hannah nodded. She just couldn't bare to let this chance go to waste, no matter what the cost.  
  
"Alrighty! Then it's settled! Thank you very much my dear, just go and do it and you'll get your reward soon enough," the glee in his voice was impossible for him to conceal.  
  
"Don't call me dear!!" Hannah yelled at him just as the image of him clicked off. She scowled and felt terrible about what she was about to do, but her resolve hardened.  
  
'It's the only way,' she thought to herself, and exited Command.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12  
  
Dylan was in his quarters trying to catch up on the sleep he lost from Harper when the Andromeda's hologram appeared. He sat up.  
  
"What is it?" he asked. The lack of sleep made him grumpy.  
  
"Someone has just contacted the ship, captain. It appears to be coming from a slipfighter similar to the one we encountered before,"  
  
Dylan jumped up and as good as threw on some clothes. "Don't let them get away. I want to talk to them, but tell them that we don't want to hurt them, that we just want to talk," he said as he got into his clothes. The holo-andromeda said "Sending message," and disappeared. Dylan hurried out of his quarters toward command. He was halfway there when he saw Hannah going down the hall towards him. He briefly thought about how much better she was looking and what a queer look she had on her face, when his thoughts were distracted again when he thought of the slipfighter. He spared her a nod as he hurried past and into the last leg to the command deck.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When he got there the screen was back to its normal message of the commonwealth symbol.  
  
"Andromeda," he called. The ship's picture appeared on the screen. "Yes captain?"  
  
"Is the slipfighter still within contacting distance?" The hologram nodded.  
  
"Good. Then send this message to them,  
  
"I am Captain Dylan Hunt of the starship Andromeda. We don't wish to harm you, only to know your name and intentions. I repeat, we wish you no harm. Please reply as soon as possible. Hunt out."  
  
He turned away from the screen and sighed. All he could do now was wait and hope they didn't run away again. He had only added that ASAP at the end of the message because he was eager to get this mystery solved and over with. Also, he hoped that they knew about the slipfighter they were looking for. He hoped so, because so far out in space it was unlikely that two separate slipfighters would come to the same area within the same day out of pure coincidence.  
  
As he exited command he told Andromeda to tell him when and if a message came through, and to send it straight to his quarters. He sighed and realized that he might not get to catch up on his sleep after all if he was to stay presentable for the message. As he walked down the corridor he encountered Beka.  
  
"Dylan! Just the person I wanted to see!" she greeted him.  
  
"What?" he snapped. He was even more grumpy now and hoped that she didn't want to see him about anything to do with work.  
  
"I just saw Hannah heading towards the machine shop with a funny look on her face just now. Thought you might want to know, and also I wanted to ask you if you wanted to play a game of cards or something," she said, puzzled at his expression.  
  
Suddenly a thought occurred to him, "Um, I'm going to have to take a rain check on that one, Beka, I just thought of something I have to do right now," he said and he turned quickly around and marched back into command.  
  
Beka shook her head. 'I will never know what goes on in the mind of our captain,' she thought and headed off to the machine shop to find Harper. Maybe he would want to do something, and she knew that the machine shop would be where to find him.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13  
  
Going through the maze of hallways yet again, Hannah thought that if she was going to override the Andromeda then she would need some tools to do it. She sighed, and thought that if only her father had given her a dataport for her birthday like she had asked her job would be much easier. This thought only made her more determined to carry out her mission.  
  
The one place that you are almost guaranteed to find tools is in a machine shop, and so Hannah found a screen on the wall and brought up a map (with a little help from her knowledge of hacking). Confident of the way now, she strode toward the shop, her jaw set with resolution.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dylan entered command.  
  
"Andromeda, could you play the message that the slipfighter sent to us before?"  
  
The image of the nightsider Gerentex popped up on the screen. Dylan raised his eyebrows and wondered what the thing could be up to now.  
  
The image spoke. "Ah, just the girl I wanted to see. You must be Hannah,"  
  
Dylan pursed his lips but listened to the rest of the message. When it was finished he had the impression that Hannah was about to aide in the hijack of the ship. He quickly turned around and ordered all rooms on extra surveillance, and ran out to find out where Hannah had gone. Beka had said she was heading towards the machine shop, he remembered, so he headed over that way.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Hannah stole into the machine shop as quietly as she could. There was no one there. First she made her way over to a table and looked around before taking the tools she thought she would need. Then as an afterthought, she grabbed a laser saw as well. She thought 'Heck, if I'm helping a nightsider, then what's harm in a little stealing too? After all, I'm going to need a way of making money once they throw me off, if the nightsider goes back on his word of a cash reward,' and she put the tools carefully into a toolbelt that she found on the table, and fastened the belt around her waist. It was a little big, but it would serve for her purpose. She wandered to the other side of the table, looking for anything else she might want to bring with her, when she heard the doors swoosh open. Quickly she ducked behind the table, not bothering to see who had come in.  
  
"Harper? Are you in here?" Hannah didn't recognise the voice, though it could have been one of the voices she heard when she had first come onto the ship. 'Go away' she thought, urging the female to leave. The doors swooshed shut again as the person left. Hannah exhaled with relief.  
  
Abandoning the rest of the tools Hannah crept out of the machine shop and ran stealthily down the hall. Looking quickly around to see if anyone was following her, she jumped down into a conduit. Her heart was racing from the close encounter and now more than ever she wanted to get this job over with.  
  
Finding a suitable place, she set to work. The first thing she did was make sure the censors of the Andromeda couldn't detect her. 


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14  
  
"Any sign yet?" Dylan asked the Holo of the Andromeda.  
  
"No. As far as I can tell she is not on board the ship, but none of the other ships are missing,"  
  
"Well she can't have just disappeared. I think we might have to find her manually," Dylan sighed.  
  
Slowly he got up and exited his quarters. He made sure that only the crew could hear his message and spoke into his commlink, "Beka, Rommie, Tyr, Harper, Trance, I need you all to look for Hannah. We can't seem to find her, so I would like a full-scale search of the ship. Harper and Beka, you look in the area of the machine shop, Tyr you take the whole docking bay area, Rommie take the storage area's and Trance you look near the hydrophonics and obs deck. Don't be afraid to do what is necessary if she gives trouble. You can do anything but hurt her. Dylan out,"  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~ Try just finished receiving the message from Dylan. No killing or hurting. That's no fun. He went off to do his job, despite these setbacks.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Harper was in the mess hall when he received the message. He groaned and reluctantly put down his food to go find Beka. It was a pity. He had wanted to work on his new project this afternoon, but he supposed it would have to wait for now. 'Just find her and you can get back to it,' he thought to himself as he exited.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Beka was still looking for Harper when she heard Dylan's voice over the commlink. 'Great,' she thought, 'now I have to find Harper and Hannah,' she turned and went back towards the machine shop. If he received the message then that would be where to find him, hopefully.  
  
She reached her destination just as Harper came out of the shop.  
  
"I was looking for you in there just now," Beka told him, "Why didn't you answer me when I called?"  
  
Harper looked uneasy and said, "I just got here, but look what I found, or rather didn't find,"  
  
He led her into the shop and pointed to his worktable.  
  
"What?" asked Beka "I don't see anything different,"  
  
"My tools and toolbelt are missing! I left them here before lunch, and I just got back. I know I didn't move them,"  
  
This was puzzling. None of the crew ever touched Harpers tools, they knew they were like his children, but she didn't remember seeing them when she had come in earlier.  
  
"I think we should report this back to Dylan," she said.  
  
"I already did it," Harper said with worry in his voice. Beka could see he was thoroughly upset.  
  
"Well, let's keep looking for Hannah. The sooner we find her the sooner we can look for your tools. You probably just left them somewhere and forgot,"  
  
Harper shook his head but led the way out of the machine shop and began the search. 


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Tyr stood near the docking bays and listened. He could hear nothing but the normal sounds of the ship. A door opened somewhere in the distance, but he could tell it wasn't Hannah. There was a sound coming from the docking area ahead of him, like a ship docking. He frowned. That couldn't be right. He was about to investigate when the door to the docking bay opened. Suddenly a gun was pointed at his head.  
  
"I think it's your best interest not to move," said the figure coming out from the docking bay. Tyr couldn't see who or what it was because the light was in his eyes, but he could tell by the sound that it was a Nightsider. He obliged and allowed the person or thing with the gun to lead him down the hall after a signal from the Nightsider. There were more thugs down this way. Maybe as many as 50. It was a pity that he hadn't brought his gun. They led him to an empty room and locked the door.  
  
"Now you just stay in here until I need you. There are two guards out here so don't try to escape. One wrong move and they will kill you without hesitation.  
  
Tyr didn't dignify it with an answer. He heard it mutter "I hate the quiet ones," and walk away. Searching the room he found there was nothing to help him escape. Not even a control panel in the wall. He tried his commlink and found the signal had been tampered with. He was utterly alone. He started to think of a plan.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Trance received the message from Dylan and left Hydrophonics. She knew Hannah wasn't in there because she would have seen her. She headed to the Obs deck to look there. After that she would move on to the conduits. She wasn't too happy about that part, Harper was more suited to crawling through cramped spaces than she, but a full-scale search meant a full-scale search so she didn't complain.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Rommie headed over to the storage area's to begin searching. First she scanned the area with her sensors and, just like the Andromeda, found nothing. She headed into the first room to search manually. She still didn't find anything. She exited and moved on again. She scanned the room along with the hallway. Wait a moment. There was a flit of something in the hallway, but when she tried to concentrate on it she found nothing. She frowned, but dismissed it to search the room manually. She still didn't find anything unusual, so left the room. No sooner had she left when she found herself on the floor with a Nightsider standing over her with an evil smile of satisfaction on his face. She tried to retaliate but found she couldn't move, and her communication system was offline. She was dragged by some of the Nightsiders cronies to a room with nothing in it. The cronies wasted no time in getting out and locking the door. Rommie wondered why, until she saw Tyr step over to the door with a vengeful look on his face. He scowled when they locked the door before he could reach them, then turned to Rommie and bent down next to her.  
  
"Are you still working, ship?" he asked  
  
Rommie was surprised that he asked the question in the first place, and when she recovered and tried to answer him she found she couldn't. Everything in her body that gave her the ability to move was offline, including her voice. She considered herself lucky that she could see at all. Perhaps they had accidentally missed that part she thought grimly.  
  
Tyr shook his head, thinking she was offline since she gave him no sign. He paced and thought of what he could do. At least they seemed to be bringing all of their captors into this room, so if Harper came he might be able to repair Rommie. With an android on their side they might be able to take the infiltrators the next time they came in. On second thought, maybe it wasn't a good idea for Harper to be captured. The more people they had on the outside the more likely their chances for escape. For now all he could do was wait.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16  
  
Harper and Beka walked down the hallway.  
  
"I wonder why Dylan was so insistent about us finding Hannah so quickly. I'm sure there's nothing she could do to hurt the ship, and she'll probably come out when she's ready," said Beka to Harper. Harper just shrugged. He seemed very out of sorts without his tools. Beka tried to get his mind off it. "Is there anything that you can build so we can find Hannah quicker?"  
  
Harper frowned angrily and said "No, I can't build anything because I don't have any tools!"  
  
'Oops,' Beka thought. She was just about to try something else when there was a noise. She stopped and listened. Silence. It had sounded like a gun charging up. Her intuition told her to be careful, and her hand reached for her gun. Harper didn't seem to notice the sound and kept walking.  
  
"Harper..." said Beka  
  
He turned around "What is it? Did you find her?" she shook her head, but just then some soldier-like people jumped from behind the corner and held a gun to his head.  
  
"Put down your gun and don't try anything," said the man with the gun. She hated to let go of her only defense, but she couldn't let Harper die. There were several other men, and when Beka put her gun down one of them came and grabbed it off the floor, pointing it at her. A Nightsider came out from behind the corner once they were suitably detained.  
  
When Harper saw who it was his look of dismay turned to hatred.  
  
"I knew you wouldn't keep your promise to Trance. We were stupid to let you go. I only hope you're here to finally pay back your debt," he growled. Gerentex had a look of satisfaction on his face and said "I don't think you're in any position to demand money from anyone right now. You will do as I say or suffer the consequences. Now move!" he said. Harper knew that this time he had no way to stop him from killing him, so was forced to oblige. He and Beka were forced down the hallway.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17  
  
Tyr looked to the door when he heard the footsteps out in the corridor of the Nightsider and his cronies. There were two other pairs of lighter footsteps with them, which could only be Harper and Beka. This time he was ready. Tyr stole over to the door and pressed himself against the wall beside it, thinking to ambush them when the door opened. The swoosh of the door opening was his cue, and he jumped out to tackle whoever was in his way. There was instant confusion, with Tyr clawing his way through the bodies, trying to inflict as much pain as possible on his captors. Some of the thugs on the outside of the action had a good view of what was going on, and were shooting frantically at the escapee. There was a cry of pain from within the crowd, and the thugs stopped shooting, satisfied that they had done their job. The doors closed and the confusion soon ceased. It was now clear that the prisoners had been forced back into the room and no one on the outside had been hurt much. The Neitszchean was certainly very powerful.  
  
Gerentex came out from the crowd, angrily.  
  
"Just what do you think you were doing back here??" he demanded to the gun- shooters "The noise probably reached all the way around the ship and now they know we're here!! We'll have to move quickly now that our element of surprise has been ruined!" he stormed off down the hallway, followed by his dismayed cohorts. If the noise of the fight hadn't notified the ship of their presence, then Gerentex's ravings certainly had.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Beka found herself suddenly inside the room with no chronological recollection of how she got there. She remembered a glimpse of Tyr, the sound of gunshots, and then she was here. Luckily, those gunshots had not hit her. She looked over to see if Tyr had escaped when she saw a white- faced Harper sitting on the ground clutching his shoulder. Rommie was lying on the ground beside him and Tyr was standing by the door with someone else's blood on his hands. She rushed over to Harper, briefly wondering what was wrong with Rommie but more concerned about the health of her young employee and friend.  
  
"It's not my lucky day, is it?" Harper tried to laugh, but the pain made him wince.  
  
If only Trance were here, she might be able to help Harper. Right now he didn't look very good. Beka tore a piece off of her own clothing and wrapped it tightly around the gunshot wound. That was the extent of her medical knowledge, unfortunately. But hopefully it would be enough to stop him from dying until they were rescued.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18  
  
Trance had a feeling that something was wrong. Just a few seconds ago, a feeling of dread filled her. She tried to contact her crewmates to make sure they were alright. Even though she knew that they weren't. No one answered except Dylan.  
  
"Have you found her?" he asked through the commlink.  
  
"Dylan, have you heard from anyone else?"  
  
"No, why?"  
  
Trance said nothing.  
  
"Trance?!"  
  
She had obviously turned off her commlink. Dylan made an aggravated noise. His crew always seemed to have their own agendas. He walked through the halls in search of Hannah. Suddenly a noise from the distance reached him. It was unmistakably the sound of gunfire. He rushed off in the direction of the sound.  
  
By the time he reached where he thought the sound had come from the gunshots had stopped, but he could hear someone talking who was definitely not one of his crewmembers. He stopped and listened. It was unmistakably the voice of the same Nightsider who had sent the message to Hannah. So she had betrayed them. It sounded as though he had brought a whole troop of helpers with him, too. Dylan stole away as quietly as he could to get a gun, and maybe find some of his crewmembers to help him.  
  
Wait a minute, what am I doing? He thought. I'll just activate the automated defense systems. He quietly gave the order to the Andromeda.  
  
"Automated defense systems are offline," she replied, a little too loudly. Luckily by this time there was enough distance between himself and the Nightsider's troop that they didn't hear it. On the other hand, automated defense systems were offline. Great. He tried to contact Harper and tell him to fix the defenses. Funny, he couldn't seem to contact him. He tried Beka, then Tyr, then Trance. Trance's was the only one still working.  
  
"Trance, can you hear me?" he spoke into his commlink. "I can hear you just fine from here, Dylan," she said, coming up from behind him. He jumped, but recovered quickly.  
  
"Trance, have you seen Harper anywhere? Or anyone else, for that matter?"  
  
She shook her head "No, but I know they're around here," she started off before Dylan could ask her about that last remark. She had said it like she knew their exact location. He followed her.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19  
  
In the room where most of the crew was being held, they were making their best efforts to escape. Harper fixing Rommie had been out of the question, and Tyr was afraid that Harper wouldn't make it, but tried not to show it. Instead he went over to him. He was their best chance of escaping, but he was on his way to the brink of death. Again.  
  
"Listen. Your knowledge of machines is our best chance of escaping and yet again I find my well-being in jeopardy because of yours. Swallow the pain and think! What can we do to get out of here, or at least contact Dylan?"  
  
"I don't know..." said Harper  
  
"THINK!!" he was being very insistent, and Beka could see Harper was trying his best, but it wasn't good enough for Tyr. Wait, Harper had suddenly gotten that look in his eye that he had figured something out.  
  
"What is it, Harper?" asked Beka.  
  
"I think I know how we can contact Dylan. The only way they could be blocking the signals of only our commlinks would be if they put a sort of shield around this room. I don't think they blocked the signals of the whole Andromeda because they would have to stay in contact with each other, right? So, unless they directly tampered with our commlinks, which I don't think they would have had time to do, we can send out a signal of a frequency high enough to break through the shield and get to Dylan. Problem is, our commlinks aren't designed to project a frequency that high," throughout his whole speech he had been struggling to block out the pain.  
  
"Is there a way to fix them so we can send out at the right frequency?" asked Beka  
  
"Yes, but I'd need some tools," he frowned, remembering his loss. Beka wished he would get over it, but right now she almost missed them as much as he did.  
  
"Well, take a look at the commlinks and see what you can do," she said desperately. She took out her commlink and handed it to him. So did Tyr. Harper took one up in his good hand and tried to open the back. With only one hand it was impossible, so Tyr reached over and did it for him. Harper was surprised, but only gave Tyr a look of thanks and then went back to his job. After looking for a minute he said, "I might be able to do it if I had something small enough to get in there," without another word Beka took out a hair pin and handed it to him. "Will this do?" she asked. "It's perfect!" he exclaimed, and immediately set to work. 


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20  
  
Hannah sat back, satisfied she had done her job. The Nightsider, his men, and his ship were undetectable by the Andromeda's sensors, and the communications around the docking bay that the Nightsider had told her were completely blocked. Now it was time to find the Nightsider about a certain reward.  
  
She decided to find him by hacking into the camera systems on the Andromeda. There was no point in wandering around the huge ship looking for him when she could just find him using the camera's. Besides, she had already done a lot of hacking today, so what was one more thing? She looked at the screen of the palm pilot she had found in the toolbelt and after a few minutes of tampering saw that the Nightsider and his cronies were over by the docking bay, and were headed towards Hydrophonics. They must have just arrived, since they had obviously parked their ship in the docking bay she had technically made invisible. She wouldn't be able to catch up to them over there, they were too far away, so she decided to wait for them to get a little closer first.  
  
To pass the time, she looked through the camera's to see what the rest of the crew were doing, and to see if they had noticed that she was missing. Switching from camera to camera, she saw Dylan and Trance in the storage area's about half a kilometer away from the Nightsider. They seemed to be looking for something. It was most likely her, but, like the Nightsider, they were quite far off track. She kept flipping. She passed a room that Harper, Beka, Tyr and Rommie were sitting in. Backing up, she looked at them, wondering why Rommie was lying on the ground and why there wasn't any furniture in the room. Then she saw the red that covered Tyr's hands and Harpers arm. She made a quick scan of the room. This was the so-called docking bay that her "employer" had told her to block off, and the only door into it was locked. She clenched her teeth. Harper was hurt, and the Nightsider had obviously broken his promise to her not to hurt any of the crew. She felt extreme guilt. Even when the creature had promised he wouldn't hurt them, in the back of her mind she knew that something like this was sure to happen. How could she have been so stupid? Of course the only way to take over a ship is to take out it's former crew or somehow convince them to follow your orders. Well at least they weren't dead yet, but by the looks of things this might not be for long.  
  
Well, now that she knew for sure that the Nightsider had gone back on his word, she saw no reason not to go back on hers. She tried to unlock the door to the room but the beast had done too good a job at making sure it stayed closed. Then she tried to take off the communications blocking she had put on, sure that since it was her own working she would be able to do something, but it was not to be. He must have done it himself, only telling her that he needed her to do it, so he could have control over her for when he needed her. Or just giving her something to do to keep her at bay while he took over. There was no way she could get them out of there, even if she went to do it manually. She left the image of the prisoners, she couldn't bear to look at them any more, and switched back to the invaders to see what they were up to. They were close enough now that if she hurried she could catch them and find out who attacked her, if he hadn't lied about that too. She decided to pretend she had no idea that he had broken his word. They might be less likely to kill her then. She swallowed and took up the tools to use as a defense if need be. Too bad a gun hadn't been in the shop. It would be much more useful now than these tools.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21  
  
It had been about 2 hours since they had first been captured, it was hard to tell exactly how long with out a watch, and Harper had been working diligently on the plan, but Beka could see he was starting to slip. The 'dammit's' that came whenever something went wrong were becoming more and more frequent, and his good left hand was having trouble getting the hairpin to go where he wanted it to. Finally she couldn't stand it any more. She knew that he would hate her for asking it but she also knew that he couldn't fix it in time the way he was going.  
  
"Harper, do you need some help?"  
  
"No, I'm fine," a bead of sweat formed on his forehead. He seemed to have the beginnings of a fever.  
  
"Well I can see very well that it will be a while before you get that done, if you don't die first, so I'm offering my help. You can take it or leave it," she looked at him expectantly, exasperatedly, and he looked up at her from his project for the first time in hours.  
  
"Fine," she could see how much it pained him to actually admit that he needed help.  
  
"Good," she moved over so she could see his progress. He was trying to prod a wire out far enough so he could work around it without removing it from its socket. "What now?" she asked.  
  
"Well... um I don't know. This is too fine a job for there to be two people working at the same time so..." he trailed off. While he was talking he was still attempting to bend the wire away but it kept jumping back to its original place whenever he tried to fix it to one spot. Exasperated, Beka reached over and easily moved the wire herself and used both hands to get the thing in place. He looked up with indignation, but swallowed it and allowed Beka to be his hands.  
  
"Ok, um, could you take that red wire there and attach it to that socket there for me? ...No, the other red one... To the left... yeah, that one," he instructed her in this way for the rest of the time it took to re-vamp the commlink. 


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22  
  
And they were finished in about 15 minutes.  
  
When it was finally done, Beka sighed and sat back.  
  
"Well, it's crude but it should work. We've certainly done a very fine job considering the circumstances," said Harper, lying back on the floor of the room. Beka grinned, noticing he had said 'we'.  
  
Tyr turned around. He was extremely relieved but anyone in the room would have said otherwise by the look on his face.  
  
"Now that you're finished, hadn't we better see if it works?" he said.  
  
Beka turned on the commlink, and a high-pitched noise came from it, but soon went away.  
  
"Well, it works so far," Beka said, clearing her head "but I think I've gone deaf!" Then she sent out the message.  
  
"Dylan, if you can hear me, Gerentex is on the ship and he has all of us captured. Harper's hurt and Rommie isn't functioning. I don't know where Trance is," she stopped talking quickly as a crackling sound came from the machine, "Dylan?" said Beka, hardly able to believe that their signal went through. They heard a voice that was definitely Dylan's.  
  
"Beka! Where are you?"  
  
She looked at the others for help "Um, the storage area's I think..."  
  
"We're on our way. Dylan out," and the line was cut.  
  
"Phew! I just hope he gets here soon, cause I really want to get my hands on a certain Nightsider in reference to a certain 84 000 throne debt," said Harper. He turned around to look at Rommie. So far he had been trying not to so his mind wasn't taken off the problem at hand, but now that it was dealt with he was free to work on her. He turned her over and opened up an unseeable panel in her back.  
  
"Harper, what are you doing? You need to rest," said Beka.  
  
"No, I'm fine, I just have to see if she'll be OK," he said. Beka pursed her lips but didn't say anything. She knew that nothing could convince Harper to rest, not while Rommie was broken.  
  
All this time Tyr was immersed in his own thoughts. He wondered why Gerentex had even bothered to keep them alive if he was planning to take over the ship, which was no doubt what he was doing. The most logical reason was for the codes he would need, but there seemed to be something else. Something he was hiding. It was no question there was any number of things a beast of his nature would want to hide. But still, something didn't seem quite normal.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23  
  
Hannah crawled out of the conduits via a ladder and quickly made her way through the hallway toward Hydrophonics. She stopped quickly when she heard the heavy thud of many footsteps coming toward her. Obviously it was her false employer. She pressed herself against the wall so she wouldn't be seen and gathered her courage as much as she could. She gulped and touched the laser saw to make sure it was still there. As ready as she would ever be, Hannah walked as confidently as she could into the hallway with the men.  
  
The Nightsider stopped, alarmed at her sudden appearance, but quickly recovered.  
  
"Ah! Look who it is! The kind soul who was so good as to help us in our hour of need. What can I do for you, my dear?"  
  
"I was wondering if we could see about my debt," Much to her surprise Hannah managed to keep her voice relatively level.  
  
"Yes, about that, you see I don't feel comfortable dealing with that right now. You see, I am in the middle of taking over a ship, so if you could possibly wait until later I would be pleased to oblige,"  
  
"I'd rather not wait until later. In fact, I need to know right now so I can get off this ship and be on my way," she was beginning to get more than angry at this Nightsider.  
  
He smiled evilly.  
  
"If you insist," he said, "I will tell you who shot you down, as promised,"  
  
She couldn't breath. A heavy arm grabbed her from behind and a sweet- smelling cloth was forced over her face. Just before she blacked out, the last image she saw was the Nightsider standing over her.  
  
"It was me," he said.  
  
All went black.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Gerentex sighed. "Put her with the rest of them," he said waving off his cronies.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24  
  
"Wait," Trance said putting up her hand. Dylan stopped obediently.  
  
"What is it, Trance?" she didn't answer him, but put her ear to a door.  
  
"Someone's in here! I think it must be the others!" she exclaimed. Just then, Dylan's commlink beeped. He touched his neck. Immediately a voice rang out "Dylan? Can you hear me? It's Beka. Gerentex is onboard trying to take over the ship, and he has captured all of us except for Trance. We think we are in the storage area's but we're not sure. Harper and Rommie are hurt, please answer!"  
  
meanwhile, Trance was trying to open the door. She called out to those inside, "Beka! Can you hear me?"  
  
Beka's voice came from inside the room and from the commlink "Trance! Get us out of here!" Trance looked at Dylan and he went up to the door. After several minutes of codes and fiddling with the mechanism beside the door, it finally swooshed open. The captors raised their heads to look at the door. Harper was still crouched beside Rommie, and he didn't look up. Beka stood up and walked toward Dylan and Trance,  
  
"Thanks," she said. Dylan smiled. He was glad to have his crew back.  
  
Before leaving the room, Tyr went over to Harper and Rommie and lifted her from the ground. As he carried her out of the room, Harper silently followed.  
  
"I'll put her in machine shop 3, and come back later," he said and turned down the hallway. Harper started to follow him, but Dylan put a hand on his good shoulder to stop him. "Harper, you're hurt, go with Trance to the med bay,"  
  
"But..." Harper started to protest, "No but's. You're in no condition to do anything. Get your wound looked after. That's an order," Harper didn't feel much like arguing and knew it was no use so he just sighed and followed Trance.  
  
"Beka, come with me. Let's go and see what Gerentex's position is, before we make a move,"  
  
First they headed to the weapons locker.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25  
  
Gerentex and his thugs headed over to the storage rooms to add Hannah to their list of captors. When they reached the room Gerentex went forward and punched a code into the panel by the door. When nothing happened, he tried it again. Still nothing. He kicked the wall in frustration and the door silently wooshed open, revealing.......  
  
An empty room.  
  
Unable to believe his eyes, he ordered his cronies to search every corner. They came out empty handed, and he growled and yelled in a rage.  
  
"AAARRRGGHHH!!!!" seething, he tried to formulate a plan. "They know we're here, but we still might be able to take over Command.... put her in there and you two guard it. Don't want to take any chances this time," he ordered two of the thugs to stand by the door. Then once he could see that Hannah was inside and the room was sealed up again, he waved the rest of his thugs onward. Since there was no need to be quiet now, they ran towards Command, their boots making a thundering sound that filled the corridors of the Andromeda.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26  
  
On the whole way to the Med Bay, Trance had to keep a hold on Harper to make sure he didn't take off to see Rommie. By the time she sterilized the wound, applied nanobots, and generally made sure he was back to normal, he was fidgeting and asking every five seconds if she was done so he could see Rommie. 'Back to the old Harper all right,' Trance thought. Finally she was done and he jumped down from the table.  
  
"Hold on, Harper!" Trance had to yell to stop him, "I think you're forgetting that there is a certain Nightsider onboard?" Harper literally sagged. "Fine, fine. I'll go see what I can do," and exited. Trance followed him out, and they both headed over to the weapons locker.  
  
Suddenly Trance's commlink activated. It was Dylan. He said, "Trance, I tried contacting Harper but I can't get through, is he OK?" Trance both looked puzzled as to why he couldn't get through for a moment, but then Harper said,  
  
"I'm here Dylan, but my commlink doesn't work normally anymore. We had to, um, fix it to get through to you before,"  
  
"I see. Well, I need you to fix the internal defense systems, and keep them from taking over command. Is there any way you can do that from the outside?"  
  
"I'm on it!" Harper said and ran to get some tools from one of the machine shops. Working with a hairpin hadn't really suited his liking.  
  
Trance headed to the weapons locker.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27  
  
Rommie could see everything going on around her. Beka and a hurt Harper fixing the commlink, then in what seemed only seconds later Dylan and Trance rescuing them, being carried down a hallway of the Andromeda, and suddenly she was lying in machine shop 3. Her slipping consciousness played this sequence in only a matter of minutes, though her logical brain told her it must have been at least twenty. She stared at the ceiling, unable to move or speak, wishing beyond hope that she could go and join the fight. But instead she was stuck here, waiting for Harper to come and fix her. If he was alright.  
  
Accompanied only by her thoughts, Rommie tried to pass the time. Her consciousness had become stable, much to her dismay. She wished she could go back to the hallway with everyone and find out what happened. If only she had been conscious then! In her mind she scowled, but her face remained motionless. She wanted to scream, but was unable to, and inside the logical part of her told her it would be useless anyway, as no one would hear her anyway because all the people on the ship were a kilometer away at least.  
  
Wait, she could tell where they were! This must mean that she was hooked into the Andromeda's systems again, though she couldn't tell why. She experimented, trying to access the information that she had lost when Gerentex had shocked her, and she could! Suddenly relieved, she searched for the Med bay to check on Harpers condition. He was normal, thank goodness. She tried to move, checking if she had that back as well, but found she still couldn't. Disappointed, she moved on to see where everyone else was. Beka, Dylan and Tyr were heading to Command, no doubt, from the direction of the weapons locker. Gerentex and his thugs were also on their way there, from the other direction. The two parties were evenly matched, both the same distance away. Trance had left the med bay and was catching up quickly. If Trance was gone, then that meant Harper must have left too. She hadn't even time to check where he was when he walked in.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28  
  
Harper ran all the way over to machine shop 3. When he entered, Tyr had left, and Rommie was lying on the main workbench, her eyes open, but unseeing. He first went to a cupboard and got out some tools, then he hurried over to her. Running an initial scan, he could see that Gerentex had applied a strong electric shock to her main neural pathway. This should have completely disabled all of her systems, but, strangely, this had only disabled her movement and speech. Quite a lot, but still much less than it should have been. Puzzled, Harper did the scan again. Still the same. It was an easy fix, luckily. He could do it, and Dylan wouldn't even notice the few minutes it took him to fix her. Decided, he began his work. After only three minutes, Rommie woke up. She could move! Ah, bliss.  
  
"Rom-doll! You're back!" Harper was ecstatic, not that he had ever doubted his abilities to repair her.  
  
"Yes Harper, I'm back," it was a joy to be able to speak again! She kept her tone level as she continued, "Gerentex and Dylan are both heading to Command. It might be up to you to see who gets there first,"  
  
"I gotcha! Fix the defense systems, right?" he began towards the door, then turned and said, "I missed you, Rommie," then turned again and trotted out.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29  
  
When Hannah woke up she had a pounding headache. Rolling onto her side, she looked at her surroundings. Grey walls and a door were the only things in the room.  
  
For some reason, she seemed to recognize the room she was in, then realized that she had seen it from a different perspective, from the camera when she was in the conduits. Then where were the others she had seen trapped here? Unless this was a different room, they must have escaped. This thought cheered her slightly, but she still couldn't forget the fact that they now knew she had betrayed them, and wondered what they would do to her when they found her. Or what the Nightsider would do if he came to get her. The best thing to do would be escape. She could find a way off the ship, through an escape pod maybe, and land on a planet somewhere to find a job. Or better yet, maybe someone on a cargoeship would be willing to take her in. But first things first.  
  
Getting up, slowly because the headache got worse as she stood, Hannah went over to the door. There wasn't even a panel to tinker with. Unabashed, she searched every corner of the room, trying to find even a crack in the wall that might be used to her advantage.  
  
Nothing.  
  
She sat down on the floor and decided to wait for something to happen. Her stomach growled. Well, that was something. She wondered if there were guards outside the room she could ask for some food. Getting up, she went back over to the door.  
  
"Hello?" she knocked on the metal door. It hurt her knuckles, but she ignored it.  
  
"Is there anybody out there?" she called.  
  
Hannah jumped in surprise when a rough voice answered, "Don't think that we're going to let you out of there," the voice sounded amused. Still determined, she called once more, "Excuse me, but I'm hungry. I don't suppose there's any chance of some food, is there?"  
  
She could tell the guards were talking, their voices were muffled and inaudible. She could only catch snatches of their conversation.  
  
"..Girl.."  
  
"...Don't want..fired."  
  
Finally there came an answer, "We'll see what we can do,"  
  
Well, at least that was something. After about ten minutes of sitting on the floor, the door slid open a crack and a plate of food was handed in to her. She scrambled over and grabbed the hand holding the plate. There was a crash as it hit the floor. The hand tried to pull back, but she would hang on if it killed her. A steady stream of cuss words came from the man, some very interesting ones that even she had not heard before, as he tried to pull his arm out from her grasp.  
  
"Close the door!!" he yelled to his companion. Almost immediately the door started to close. If she didn't let go, her arm would be crushed. She quickly loosened her grip and the arm pulled away. She preferred captivity to losing a limb. The door slammed shut, dulling the sounds of the swearing guard, and with it her last chance of escape. Slumping to the floor, Hannah knew that she had no hope, and would just have to take what was coming to her. Sighing, she soothed her growling stomach with the still clean food that the guard had dropped.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30  
  
All Is Revealed  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Running to the Command Deck, Dylan, Beka, Trance, and Tyr pulled out their guns that they had gotten from the weapons locker. Harper came in over the commlink.  
  
"Dylan, I fixed the defence systems,"  
  
"Good. Tell me, where on the ship is Gerentex?"  
  
"Just a sec... uh oh..."  
  
"Harper, what is it??"  
  
"The Ratface has taken over Command. They got there first, Dylan,"  
  
He immediately stopped running. Beka, Tyr, and Trance could see the stress coming onto him, and heard him mutter "Why do I even bother?"  
  
"I heard that," came Andromeda's voice from nowhere.  
  
"Don't worry Andromeda, we'll get you back," he apologised, sighing.  
  
Tyr cut in, "We should go to Command, and see how heavily they are guarding their position. Perhaps we can break in. If they are overconfident they should be an easy target,"  
  
In silent agreement, Dylan, Trance, and Beka started on their way again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When they reached Command, they found the doors barred and locked, as expected. Dylan put his face up to the door and started yelling, trying to project his voice through the thick protections of Command.  
  
"Hello? Gerentex, we know you're in there, and we only want to talk,"  
  
Beka rolled her eyes and sighed "Oh, don't tell me he's going to try to talk to them!"  
  
Tyr obviously felt the same way.  
  
A voice came through on Dylan's commlink.  
  
"I was wondering when you would get here, Hunt. But I'm afraid you're too late. As you can no doubt tell, I have taken over your ship and I intend to keep it that way," he sneered.  
  
"She's not yours to take, Gerentex," Dylan said, anger building in his voice.  
  
"Well she is now!" he laughed "Now you and your little friends just sit tight out there while I take us all on a nice ride to Darragan,"  
  
"What?! That's the most highly guarded prison planet in the system!"  
  
"Exactly! Well, I suppose I'd better let you in on my plan, so you won't feel too bad that you were tricked by a Nightsider," Gerentex said, glee filling his voice at his accomplishments.  
  
They all just looked at each other, slightly worried but not ready to give up yet.  
  
Gerentex continued with his gloating, but they were barely listening now. Suddenly the word "corpses" caught Dylan's ear.  
  
"Wait, back up, did you say something about corpses?"  
  
"I did as a matter of fact. Don't tell me you didn't discover what was in the Goldensun's hangar?"  
  
"We did, as a matter of fact, but how did you?"  
  
"Ah, Dylan. You underestimate me. I was hired to transport the bodies, the result of an illegal jaunt of a colleague of mine, and to dump them into space. No more bodies, no more evidence. But then a thought occurred to me when I heard from my... sources, that you were in the system. I wanted to kill two birds with one stone , so to speak. So I hired the Goldensun to do the job for me. First so I wouldn't get caught, and second so you would discover them and, as I knew you would, save them from me. That was me shooting at them by the way. You were so predictable, Hunt, and fell right into my trap!" "But how would us saving them help you?" Beka demanded.  
  
"Well, you see, now the bodies are in your hands and you will be blamed for them, not me. And, subsequently, I take over while you are preoccupied by their discovery, and turn you into the authorities, taking all the credit and getting a High Guard Starship to boot. Not to mention the money my colleague is paying me for destroying the evidence for him. Of course, I didn't count on there being a survivor. But now I think of it, that girl Hannah may have been the only thing that pulled the plan through... But that doesn't matter now All that matters is that my plan is finally falling into place," he sighed blissfully, "Now just you stay there and be good. We should reach Darragan shortly," he chuckled maliciously to himself.  
  
The link was cut and the distant sounds in the background of the message immediately ceased.  
  
But a plan was already forming in Dylan's head.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31  
  
Dylan contacted Harper on his commlink.  
  
"Harper, I need you to cut all power,"  
  
"Wait a minute, all power?"  
  
"Yes. Without the power, the locks on the doors won't work, and we can get into command. Also, without power Gerentex can't pilot the ship,"  
  
"Okee Dokee, cutting power,"  
  
Suddenly all the lights on the ship went out.  
  
"Spooky," Beka said, surprised at how loud her voice seemed without the hum of the engines.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
There was instant turmoil inside Command. Without being able to see, it was impossible to keep from bumping into things, and each other. Gerentex shouted to his men to stay calm, but nothing he could do would make them listen. He wasn't feeling particularly calm himself. Suddenly the turmoil increased, if possible, when there was a bright flash of light and sparks flew everywhere. Another flash came, and Gerentex could see it was from Dylan Hunt's forcelance, his face illuminated for a brief moment. There were more and more flashes, from Hunt's and his crew's weapons, and his men were dropping like flies. The Nightsider dove behind a console, and shouted to his men.  
  
"Fight back you idiots!! We could still win!" but he knew he was kidding himself. His dream was shattered once again by the same people that had put him down before. He was in agony. His goal was so close!  
  
Suddenly, he was being lifted up from the ground. In his anger and sadness, he had not noticed the Neitzschean come up behind him, but now it was too late. He was carried, kicking and struggling like a child having a tantrum, out of Command, where most of his comrades already were.  
  
"You just murdered my employees in cold blood! I could get you into prison for this, if not for the corpses!" he yelled, trying to sound threatening.  
  
Dylan chuckled "I didn't kill them. My forcelance was only set to stun, they should wake up in a few minutes. Meanwhile, I'd like you to come with me. We'll have to put you somewhere safe where you won't get into trouble until we can turn you in to Commonwealth authorities,"  
  
Gerentex and his men were brought to the brig.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32  
  
The door to her room opened. Hannah was afraid to look up, wanting to put off finding out whether it was Gerentex or Dylan coming to get her. A sinking feeling of guilt filled her when Dylan's voice spoke,  
  
"I was wondering where you disappeared too,"  
  
She closed her eyes, not wanting to face the trouble she had caused. She could sense him coming closer, further into the room. He squatted down beside her and rested a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"I'm not angry, you know," he said  
  
Her eyes shot open and she looked him in the eye, her surprise overpowering her guilt for the moment.  
  
"You're not?" she asked disbelieving.  
  
He laughed, his eyes sincere "No. Considering the number of scrapes we've been through on this ship, I had no doubts that we could get through one more. It wasn't your fault. Whether you were here or not, he would have found a way to get in anyway, but there was one thing Gerentex didn't learn from his last encounter with us. No one steals my ship and gets away with it,"  
  
"Wait! That's where I've heard of him before! Gerentex was the name of the person who last hired us for a job," suddenly nothing made sense.  
  
"But why would he bother hiring us if he was just going to shoot us down? And why did he shoot us down in the first place?"  
  
Dylan looked sombre. "I'll explain later, it's a long story. But first, you probably want to give Gerentex a piece of your mind," he stood up, and led her out of the room and to the brig.  
  
Hannah was boiling with renewed anger at the Nightsider. Dylan hadn't been wrong when he said she'd want to give him a piece of her mind. A big one.  
  
They reached the brig. Gerentex stayed sitting, even after he saw them approaching. A bullet-proof glass wall in the doorway to his solitary cell was all the separated them from the guilty party.  
  
"Gerentex," said Dylan, "There's someone who wants to talk to you,"  
  
The Nightsider didn't bother putting on his phony smile for the girl. He just gave them a look that clearly said 'haven't I suffered enough?'.  
  
Then the ranting began. Hannah gave him the biggest piece of her mind that she had ever given anyone, which soon turned into tears as she continued. For ten minutes at least, the chastising went on, and it would take too long to write the whole speech down. It was basically a ridicule of Gerentex and 'his kind of people' as well as reprimanding him severely for taking away all of her memories, as well as the memories that she could have had. Her father was mentioned frequently, and so much that even Gerentex began to feel as though he knew him, and the other lives he had taken away. Much to his dismay, the sight of the thoroughly distraught girl brought tears to his eyes, and he began to regret his actions. This was even more powerful than the regret he had shown for Trance when he had promised to turn his life around. He tried to push it away but it wouldn't stop. He turned away from them so they wouldn't see the chink in his defences against emotions.  
  
"Don't you turn away when I'm speaking to you!!!" Hannah said severely. Much to her surprise the Nightsider replied with a choking voice, and her anger quickly evaporated at he sight of the pitiful soul before her.  
  
"I'm sorry! I truly am! I can't believe I ever did such a thing in my life, I'm so ashamed! But you just won't stop. You keep standing there shouting out your problems without the slightest regard for anyone else's feelings, thinking you're the only person in the Universe who has problems!! Well I hope you feel bad, because I certainly do!!!" this ended his turn at the soapbox, and he burst into tears.  
  
All the self pity that Hannah had been feeling ever since the incident changed its course and concentrated on Gerentex instead. She gave Dylan a look that asked if she could go in with him, and he reluctantly opened the door, but only because the Nightsider looked truly sincere.  
  
She walked in and sat down beside him. She put her arm around his shoulders and they cried together.  
  
Dylan watched this strange development passively, staying only because he didn't want to leave Hannah in there with Gerentex unattended. Even he himself was becoming a bit misty. He let them have their time for as long as they needed, then said quietly, "Hannah, it's time to go," she regretfully got up and left the brig, giving Gerentex a look of pity once again. She followed Dylan through the halls again, wiping her sleeve over her eyes. He led her to her quarters.  
  
"Why are we going here?" she asked him.  
  
"You obviously need sleep, its been a big day. We'll take care of everything in the morning,"  
  
She obeyed and went into her room. Stopping at the doorway, she turned and asked, "Dylan, he's going to prison, isn't he?"  
  
He nodded silently.  
  
She sighed a deep sigh filled with sadness, and turned back into the room, the door closing quietly behind her.  
  
Dylan likewise headed to his quarters for a much needed rest.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33  
  
The next day Dylan explained the whole situation to Hannah, corpses and all. When he was finished she was silent. Then she said, "I think I'd like to fix my ship, and leave as soon as possible,"  
  
This surprised Dylan, "You're welcome to stay here, with us,"  
  
"I know, but I need to have familiar things around me. Also, this ship is so big, I don't think I'd ever get used to it,"  
  
He understood how she felt. He had felt the same way when he first came onboard the Andromeda.  
  
"Alright. If you can find Harper, I'm sure he would help you fix it up. But don't you think you'd be lonely, on that cargo ship all by yourself? And what about money? How will you manage that?"  
  
"I've watched my father and friends negotiating and bartering my whole life. I'm sure I can find a way," she looked slightly wistful at that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
That day the rest of the crew felt relatively normal. They had averted yet another disaster, and come out of it alive. Nothing new about that. They all sat in the mess hall eating breakfast and talking about yesterdays happenings.  
  
"Well I just wish that the Ratface had gotten what he deserved," said Harper, swigging a Sparky Cola,  
  
"He is going to jail, you know," Trance reminded him,  
  
"Yeah, but if I'd been there I'd have made sure he was going to intensive care instead,"  
  
Trance looked hurt, "Harper, he deserves to live just like the rest of us,"  
  
Beka cut in, "You know Trance, for once I agree with Harper. I still haven't forgotten that he stole my ship," she said, gripping her coffee mug.  
  
Trance got up and left, "I have to go finish something,"  
  
Rommie walked in just as Trance left.  
  
"Harper, there are still a few things I need you to fix," she said  
  
"Sure thing Rommie! I'll be right there," she waited for him to finish off his Sparky and then left, with him on her heels, looking adoringly at her.  
  
Beka rolled her eyes. It was just her and Tyr now.  
  
"Yeah, I should probably be going too," she said and got up to leave.  
  
When she reached the hallway outside the mess hall she came face to face with Hannah.  
  
"Have you seen Harper?" Hannah asked shyly, afraid that even though Dylan had forgiven her, perhaps the rest of the crew wouldn't be so understanding.  
  
"Yes, he just went off with Rommie, but I don't know which way, sorry,"  
  
"That's OK. Thanks," and she ran off in the opposite direction that Beka was heading.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
After looking for Harper for half an hour, Hannah was about to give up, when an explosion came from down the hallway. She ran to see what it was, and was met by the very person she was looking for, backing out of a room. Harper was holding a fire extinguisher and was frantically trying to put out the flames that licked out at him from inside the room. Hannah ran to help, and he looked very sheepish when he saw her. By the time she reached him the extinguisher had done its job.  
  
"What happened??" she asked him.  
  
"Well, see, I had a little accident while trying to fix something... "  
  
Andromeda's voice cut in  
  
"Some trick wiring that Gerentex had rigged to explode. Obviously it worked,"  
  
Harper continued, talking to himself more than anyone, "I should have spotted it. My mind wasn't on my work I guess..." he trailed off, and entered the room. It was full of smoke, but the Andromeda was quickly filtering it away, and replacing it with clean air. The walls and floor were charred and what was left of the furniture was undistinguishable.  
  
"Lucky for us nothing important was in here," said Harper, angry at himself for screwing up.  
  
Dylan and Rommie had heard the explosion and came running down the hall. Rommie reached them first, and had heard his last remark.  
  
"What do you mean nothing important was in there? You were,"  
  
he smiled at her, not sure if she was serious, and hoping she was.  
  
"Are you hurt?" Dylan asked as he ran up.  
  
"Only my pride," he replied, certainly looking like it.  
  
"Good. You can clean up in here later, Harper, I think Hannah wants to ask you something," and he turned back the way he had come, followed by Rommie.  
  
Harper raised his eyebrows and turned to her.  
  
"I was wondering if you would help me fix my ship," she told him.  
  
He lit up. Anything to keep his mind off of his mistake.  
  
"Sure! Just let me get some tools," he ran off, delighted with the prospect of a new project.  
  
Hannah asked the Andromeda which way to her ship, and when she was sure of the way, set off. 


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34  
  
Dylan stood in Command, reading some messages. All was normal until he received one that ordered him to come immediately to the Commonwealth base to report in. The base was at least ten slipstream jumps from them, much to his dismay, and they would have to leave immediately. That meant putting off turning in Gerentex. He was annoyed, but as he could do nothing about it, turned to tell everyone the news. Last he went to Gerentex.  
  
"I've got good news, Gerentex," said Dylan, walking into the brig area, "for you, anyway. Our stop at Darragan has been delayed, so you won't be checked in there until at least next week,"  
  
with that, he left Gerentex to his thoughts.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Several days pass:  
  
It was evening and Hannah and Harper were just finishing up on the Goldensun. It had taken them only five days to repair the damage that had been done, as well as some upgrades. Standing back, they both beheld her beauty. She was truly magnificent. Her hull shone like the gold she was named after, and she had not a scratch. If they had not been so used to the Andromeda by now, they would have called it breathtaking.  
  
"Well, that's that," Harper said, and he went to gather up his tools so he could take them back to the machine shop and finally finish up the cleaning he had to do in the room with the explosion.  
  
"Yup," said Hannah. She had never felt so satisfied in her life.  
  
They both left the hold together and then went their separate ways, Hannah heading over to her quarters for a good nights' sleep.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Night. All was still on the Andromeda Ascendant. Hannah was in bed, though she was not asleep. Keeping an ear open and listening for any sounds of the crew, she slowly got out of bed and headed first to the machine shop, then to Dylan's quarters.  
  
Creeping through the hallways after successfully achieving the first stage of her plan, Hannah felt excited. It was a rush to be sneaking around at night with no one else around, and doing things that weren't exactly allowed at the same time. She smiled as she slipped into the room that was her last stop before her final destination.  
  
Gerentex was on the bed in his cell, asleep. Hannah tapped quietly on the bullet proof glass, trying to wake him up. Luckily, he was a light sleeper, and woke up after a few taps. He looked up in surprise at the sight of Hannah peering into his cell, but obeyed her when she put a finger to her lips, asking for silence. She whispered to Gerentex.  
  
"I need you to promise me something. I can get you out of here, but only if you are serious about when you said before that you regret your previous actions in life. If you truly want to turn over a new leaf, you can come with me, and we can both start again together, on my ship,"  
  
Gerentex looked blissful. He nodded, suddenly all of the weight of guilt he had been feeling, and dread of what was in store for him at Darragan was lifted.  
  
Hannah quietly slipped the key she had stolen from Dylan's room into the lock, and uttered the code word she had heard him use when he had unlocked the cell door for her before. At first she was afraid it wasn't going to work, but then the glass slid aside.  
  
Gerentex and she slipped out of the brig and stole away to the cargo hold.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 


	35. Chapter 35 Fin

Chapter 35  
  
The Andromeda was silent. Her sensors couldn't detect anything unusual. The heat coming from her crew and the sound of their gentle breathing as they slept was the only thing she could feel. Suddenly she could sense movement. It was Hannah, getting out of bed. Thinking she was only going to the washroom, she let her be, and moved on.  
  
After about ten minutes, she had a strange feeling as though something that should be there, wasn't. It was as though it had disappeared, but she couldn't tell what should be there. She would tell Dylan about it in the morning. Right now he was asleep, and she didn't want to wake him when he needed it so much.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Dylan woke up after a peaceful sleep, the first he had had in a while. He stayed in bed for another ten minutes, enjoying the peacefulness of the morning.  
  
Andromeda's voice broke the silence.  
  
"Good, you're awake," she said, "last night some of my sensors were cut again. Most probably because of something Gerentex did before, that Harper hasn't had time to fix yet, but I didn't want to wake you in the night,"  
  
Dylan got out of bed. "I'll have Harper look into it," he said, not very worried.  
  
"Also, we received a message last night. I haven't opened it,"  
  
"Thank you Andromeda. I'll read it when I'm finished with Harper,"  
  
Starting with a shower, he got ready for the day, and when he was finished he headed to find Harper and tell him the problem.  
  
When that was dealt with, he headed to Command to read the message. He jumped a mile when Hannah and Gerentex appeared on the screen. Hannah spoke  
  
"Thanks for everything, but now we have to go. Both of us have to start off on a new foot, and we're going to do it together. Just tell the authorities that Gerentex escaped or... um... that in trying to escape he died," she turned to Gerentex, "That might be better, so you can start a new life with a new identity. I think I'll change my name too..." she turned back to the screen, "So, this is just saying that you might never hear of Hannah or Gerentex again. Thanks again,"  
  
it was abrupt, and final. The image clicked off, and Dylan immediately went to tell his crew what had happened. He felt it was strange, that such a pair would take off together, and hoped that Gerentex didn't turn on her and steal the ship. Knowing him, he probably would, but maybe, just maybe, he really was serious about turning over a new leaf. Well, they were long gone by now, so there was nothing he could do about it. He smiled, and silently wished them the best. Maybe he would hear of them again some day. He chuckled at the thought of what Harper would say when he heard the news that Gerentex had gotten away again...  
  
Fin 


End file.
